Filling up the bulletin board can be 'ridiculous'

In
my followup to Lafayette’s 41-23 win over Holy Cross last Saturday, I wrote the
following sentence:

“The
Hoyas have not been among the league’s elite teams, but this year’s Lafayette
seniors have never beaten them, losing three straight games by a total of eight
points in what Tavani referred to as ‘ridiculous style. Our seniors have a
strong feeling about them.’”

That’s
what he said.

Why?

Lafayette
turned the ball over seven times in the 2012 loss. That’s “ridiculous style,”
for sure.

The
Leopards outgained the Hoyas 509-265, but four turnovers, including one on a
possible game-winning drive in the final minutes, were huge in 2010. That
qualifies as “ridiculous style.”

And
in 2011, needing only a field goal to win, Lafayette fumbled the ball on a
first down play from the Hoyas’ 23 with under two minutes left. “Ridiculous
style?” I can see where Tavani would think so.

Georgetown
Coach Kevin Kelly was on a conference call with Lehigh Valley media on Tuesday,
and in the course of the Q&A, he was asked, “Coach, you’ve kind of been a
thorn in Lafayette’s side the last three years. To what do you attribute the
success against Lafayette? And they’ve been different kind of games, defensive
games, they’ve been shootouts. Is there anything that was a consistent thread
through there that’s allowed your team to have the kind of success they’ve had
against Lafayette?”

“Well,
we just have to try to play as hard as we can,” Kelly said. “Those games all go
down to the wire, and as Frank puts it, we just win in ridiculous style. So,
we’re going to try to have a ridiculous style win again this week. Play as hard
as we can, and if we get a ridiculous-style win, I’ll take it every time.”

Needless
to say, the answer drew lots of laughter in the room at Lafayette.

You
see, Ryan Sakamoto, an Easton High grad, is the sports information director for
football at Georgetown. Now, I’m not positive that it was Ryan who found the
quote on The Morning Call’s website, but I figured from Kelly’s laugh that I
had the whistleblower figured out.

The
point to this whole story is that, while Tavani was talking about how Lafayette
LOST the games, Kelly apparently took the “ridiculous style” to be some kind of
a knock against his team.

The
bottom line is this – and this is Paul Reinhard speaking. The Leopards had
three straight Georgetown games in the palm of their hand, ready for the
taking, and they gifted all three to the Hoyas. Call it ridiculous. Call it
ugly.

One thing is certain: if any team has cause to draw motivation from the
results of the last three meetings, it is Lafayette.

I
asked Leopard defensive end James Coscia, “What is it about Georgetown?”

“I
don’t know,” the senior from East Stroudsburg South High said. “They’re one of
those teams, they just don’t quit during games and they’ve had our number these
last couple of years. It’s definitely a team we can beat; we want to get them.
But they’re also just the next team on the schedule and they’re a Patriot
League team and we’re just looking to be 3-0 in the league.”

Lafayette
had records of 2-9, 4-7 and 5-6 the past three seasons; Georgetown was 4-7, 8-3
and 5-6 in the same span. The Hoyas played for the league championship in the
final game of 2011; Lafayette hasn’t been anywhere near that with the players
who are seniors this year.

Kelly,
without realizing it, may have thrown out a bit of bulletin-board stuff on
Tuesday, too.

In
his opening statement, he said, “The last three opponents are probably the top
three in the league right now, Fordham, Lehigh and Colgate.”

He
said lots more, too, but I can hear Tavani including that remark in his Friday
night motivational talk to the team. After all, he left out the Leopards,
currently co-leaders at 2-0 in the league.

I
guess it’s all in the way you spin it.

James Coscia (left) chats with Mike Joseph, while Mark Ross is being interviewed at Tuesday's luncheon.

ODDS AND ENDS

THE LATEST ON
INJURIES – The
Zach Zweizig situation, which was addressed in my story in the print edition of
Wednesday’s Morning Call, wasn’t the only bit of injury news given by Tavani on
Tuesday. He said his team consisted of 74 practicing players on Monday – the most
since the season began. Three of them were in “blue”, meaning they were not to
be hit. But those three – safety Shane Brady, cornerback Damarcus Ingram and
and defensive end Tyrus White – should be available for play on Saturday
against the Hoyas. Thay will be welcome news to a defensive unit that has been
playing rather short-handed and moving personnel around to fill gaps. Wide
receiver Justin Adams “needs another week yet,” Tavani said, adding again that
there will be some consultation involving doctors, parents and Adams before
anything happens. I didn’t remember seeing Anthony Loyacona in the game Saturday,
but Tavani said he was used “a little bit” against the Crusaders.

MEDICAL RED-SHIRTS – Our Zweizig
discussion got around to the possibility that, if he didn’t come back this
year, he could qualify for a fifth year in 2015, but he would not be able to
apply for that until next year around this time. Tavani said that six seniors
on this year’s team qualified for an additional year in 2014, but only three of them – Shane Brady, Dion King and Ben
Aloi – have applied. They will learn the results of their applications later,
and if they get the permission, they will then have to withdraw from school for
the spring semester and return in the fall for their final semester. The
financial aid packages athletes receive are for eight semesters, not nine. Eligible
players who have decided against applying for the fifth year are running back
Marcellus Irving, defensive end Alex White and defensive back DeOliver Davis.
Tavani stressed again that just because they are eligible and have applied for
a red-shirt year, there is no guarantee Brady, King and Aloi will follow through
with it. The decision is left entirely to the athletes and their families.

YOU’VE GOT MAIL – I asked Coach Tavani
what his email box looked like after the Leopards’ impressive victory over Holy
Cross. He said that after the game, “we were halfway home before I ever opened
my bag lunch.” He said he had 19 text messages, 24 emails and 16 voice mail
messages. “That hasn’t happened in a long time,” he said. “The week before
(after the loss to Harvard), there was nothing on there. Nobody wants to deal
with the head coach following a loss. I know it was the shortest 4 ½ hour bus
ride I ever had. It was a lot more satisfying.”

IN DEFENSE OF THE
DEFENSE – Despite
the fact that Holy Cross actually finished with more offensive yards than
Lafayette (418-413), the Leopards held the Crusaders in check until they drove
for two fourth-quarter scores. “Our entire staff great a job in the game,”
Tavani said, “but the defensive staff had a much more difficult (task) to
prepare for. Every week, the offenses are completely different. We did come out
with a different look against them. The idea was to confuse their young
quarterback, which our defense has done a great job with, and to put some
pressure on and get some early hits on him and get him to be off a little bit. The
defense had a lot to do with that. They gave up a fair amount of yards, but
they played bend-don’t-break.” Defensive end James Coscia said, “Going into
that game, you could see it in the guys’ eyes. We knew we were going to win
that game. There was a certain intensity and focus and level of excitement we
didn’t have the past couple of weeks.”

WHAT’S IN THE SACK? –
Coming
into last year’s game with Lafayette, Georgetown had 17 sacks and its opponents
had 22. When I asked Coach Kelly about that on Tuesday, I said in my question
that the Hoyas had just four sacks this year. “Actually we have five, so don’t
cut us short,” he said. “Our opponents have 20 (actually, coach, I checked your
stats, which say they have 21), so I look at them pretty close. Two of our
starting defensive linemen are out for the year, Sean Campbell, preseason all-Patriot
League player been out last three weeks, also sophomore Hunter Kiselick, probably
our best defensive lineman, has been out since after second game. It’s just a
personnel thing. We’re trying to rectify that this week.” For the record,
Lafayette has 16 sacks, its opponents 21 this season. In last year’s game
between the two teams, Georgetown had just one sack, Lafayette four.

THE SCHOLARSHIP ISSUE
–
Georgetown did not join the rest of the league in going to merit-based
scholarships beginning with the recruiting class of 2014. I asked Coach Kelly
if he was okay with the university’s stance on scholarships or, based on what
he’s seeing this year, he is pushing for a change. “It’s not my choice,” Kelly
said, “but I am seeing this, it is affecting our recruiting. People, the first
question they ask is, Are you giving scholarships? And I have to be honest and
say that we’re not. And you’re starting to see in the league this year that
some of these scholarship athletes are starting to make an impact on the league
right away. In fact, just look at the two quarterbacks from Holy Cross and
Lafayette last week. There are two great examples right there. Actually, we’re
going to have to make a decision what we’re doing here.” Amen to that.

Current Comments

Yes, great game for the Pards. Let's just keep our feet on the ground and head deflated. We have a lot of ground to cover! But kudos to the team for hanging in there and NO FOLDS! That's a true testament to character!

Posted By: Pards Rule | Oct 30, 2013 4:17:35 PM

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SportsTalk is an all-in-one Sports Weblog of The Morning Call Sports Reporters. The blog will cover everything sports and more, from the Lehigh Valley and beyond.